World T20: England face familiar demons in Afghans

NEW DELHI: It is a kind of homecoming for the Afghanistan team here in Delhi. They come to the Ferozeshah Kotla having trained for a couple months in Greater Noida with an assistant coach Manoj Prabhakar who knows this ground like the back of his hand.
So, while the England team tries to figure out how the pitch would behave on Wednesday, the carefree Afghans look to raise their game one notch higher in the hope to claim their first big Test-playing nation in this ongoing World T20.
The scare that the Afghans gave Sri Lanka and South Africa, their consistent growth at the international level and the amount of turn the pitch is expected to produce, notwithstanding, the minnows could have a lot going for them on Wednesday. That feeling has crept in, even putting England's astounding 230-run chase against South Africa in the shadow. "When we played against lower-ranked teams like Hong Kong and Oman, we got a bit cautious and nervous. So, I feel England will be under pressure against us," an assertive Afghanistan captain Asghar Stanikzai said here.

The mindset of an associate nation is not unfamiliar in the English camp either. Their skipper Eoin Morgan started his international career playing for Ireland. "It will be their ultimate objective to upset the campaign of a big team," conceded Morgan. "It's a bit like a pump-action shotgun," Morgan strove to explain, "You can keep loading as long as you like. If you keep missing, it's fine. But the opportunity will come along the way. And if you have your day, you might win a game. That's certainly the attitude when I was a part of Ireland," said the English skipper.
What adds to the uncertainty is that England don't have fond memories of playing associates in ICC events. They have lost to the Netherlands twice — in 2009 and 2014 World T20s — and Ireland in the 2011 50-over World Cup. Looking forward to the game on Wednesday, Morgan claims the last defeat to the Netherlands was just a result of poor attitude as the team had already been knocked out of the tournament. The situation will be different on Wednesday, but the stakes will still be greater. Morgan and his boys would look to hold their nerves against an unpredictable Afghanistan to stay alive in the tournament.